MgB2 has recently been found to be a superconductor with a critical temperature (TC) of about 40 K, much higher than the best-known intermetallic superconductors [J. Nagamatsu et al “Superconductivity at 39 K in magnesium boride”, Nature 410, 63-64, Mar. 1, 2001]. The material is found to have many favourable properties compared to the hitherto known cuprate superconductors and the classical intermetallic superconductors [C. Buzea et al “Review of superconducting properties of MgB2”, Superconductor Science & Technology 14, R115-R145, Nov. 5, 2001]. For commercial exploitation of MgB2, it is necessary to invent simple and inexpensive methods to produce the material in the form of high quality powders, dense bulk bodies, long composite conductors with excellent phase purity, microstructure and superconducting properties. The prior art relating to preparation of MgB2 superconducting materials has associated with it a number of problems and deficiencies and these are mainly related to (1) the strong affinity of Mg towards O2 which demands the reaction between Mg and B to be carried out in concealed and/or inert atmosphere, (2) the wide difference in melting points (or vapour pressures) of Mg (650° C.) and B (2080° C.) which necessitates the reaction to be carried out at high pressures, (3) porous and brittle nature of MgB2 which further demands high pressure sintering or compaction in hot stage to obtain the material in dense form, (4) the numerous number of expensive process steps and the associated excessive consumption of energy involved in the production process [N. N. Kolesnikov et al “Synthesis of MgB2 from elements”, Physica C 363, 166-169, 2001; Y. Nakamori et al “Synthesis of the binary intermetallic superconductor MgB2 under hydrogen pressure”, Journal of Alloys and Compounds 335, L21-24, 2002; C. F. Liu et al “Effect of heat-treatment temperatures on density and porosity in MgB2 superconductor”, Physica C 386, 603-606, 2003; C. Dong et al “Rapid preparation of MgB2 superconductor using hybrid microwave synthesis”, Superconductor Science & Technology 17, L55-L57, Oct. 6, 2004].